My husband and I are going to CR 10/28 arrive at 1:30 PM and leave 11/7 at 3:30 PM. We are going to rent a 4X4 and join tours through hotels. Do you think we are doing to much?
day 1 Arrive in San Jose
day 2 San Jose take a 1 day white water rafting tour
day 3 San Jose day trip to La Paz Waterfall/Poas Volcano
day 4 drive to Arenal
day 5 Arenal/La Fortuna
day 6 Arenal
day 7 Monteverde
day 8 Monterverde
day 9 drive to Manual Antonio
day 10 Manual Antonio
day 11 drive to San Jose for afternoon flight 3:30 PM

The first part sounds great. Staying at a downtown hotel and letting someone take you to a few highlights is a great way to acclimate yourself to the surroundings and prepare yourself for your own rental experience!

I think, though, that I'd do the last part a little differently and avoid 2 nights Monteverde and 2 nights Manuel Antonio. Depending on how much beach time you want, I'd drop the Monteverde portion and do 3 nights Arenal, 4 nights Manuel Antonio--or vice versa.

If you don't care whether you get beach time or not (and if MV is really important to you), you could skip MA and add the nights to Arenal or Monteverde. That just wouldn't be my choice.

Good luck! We've done it the way you are proposing (with the 2 nighters) plenty of times. These days we enjoy sinking into an area and spending a little more time enjoying what it has to offer.

Yeah, I was wondering if I'd run my husband ragged with all the driving and packing and checking into 4 hotels. If we were to drive from Arenal to MA it appears that it's about a 6 hour drive. Does that sound correct? I think we'll take out the Monteverde piece and take on the extra nights in either Arenal or MA.
Thanks for your help

And I think you'll be glad you did. If you drove it straight through, it would take about 5 hours or a few min. more. However, you'll probably want to stop for lunch or a snack, bathroom breaks, and a view of the crocs at the Rio Tarcoles. Could take 6 hours, easily.

Have a great trip--my gosh, it's right around the corner. Please post a report when you get back, and enjoy every minute!

Your itinerary is very similar to our upcoming trip. The only difference is that we're staying outside of San Jose instead of in San Jose for the first part, and we're doing Montezuma instead of Manuel Antonio.